#imma just...go lay down now...

When you took this mission, you hadn’t expected anything to go too terribly wrong. 

It looked simple enough. You and your Skylander companion just had to infiltrate Dr. Krankcase’s lair and sabotage his machinery to prevent another enchanted woods from being bulldozed and used to build more evil wooden minions. You hadn’t expected a sudden cloud of smog to send the airship you were on reeling, accidentally sending you tumbling off to the ground below.

Against common sense, you’d decided to trudge ahead instead of waiting for Camo to find you. Without a weapon or Skylander, you were forced to hide and run past any Chompies or Evilikin that patrolled the area. A lot of wandering later, you stumbled upon an imposing mill. Again, against your better judgment, you chose to slip inside through a side door.

You were immediately smacked with the oppressive smell of the workshop. Vats and containers of bubbling goo were everywhere, smelling like a foul mixture of rancid milk, vomit, and decade-old cheese. You fanned away the fumes, cautiously walking in. Maybe there was a safe place you could stay until your Skylander showed up.

That proved to be your biggest mistake. As you carefully weaved around open, caustic cauldrons, there was a distant tapping. It sounded closer the further you walked. Was some Evilikin waiting to get the drop on you? The clicking suddenly sped up, like someone tapping their foot. It finally brought your attention to a figure on ledge above, illuminated by a glass container of glowing goo.

Perched right above you was the very inventor you’d been sent to take down, Dr. Krankcase. His green, frog-like face was twisted into a sharp-toothed smirk, a tall, red top hat adding to his surprisingly imposing stature. Your eyes were drawn to his most defining feature: five mechanical, wooden spider legs that made up his lower half. That, and the goo gun he had aimed right at you.

“I had a hunch we’d get some uninvited guests, but a genuine Portal Master? Now that’s a real prize!” He exclaimed. “Just come with me, and you won’t get hurt!” Fat chance at that-you ran for it, prompting him to open fire. Green goo splattered around your feet, trying to trap or slow you. Cringing, you shook the gunk off before diving under a table, just out of sight.

Krankcase jumped down, immediately going on the hunt. Your heart pounded in your chest as you watched him inspect the area. Mercifully, he didn’t check under the table. You crawled out, still trembling from how close that had been. You had to find somewhere better to hide. But as you moved to stand, you bumped the slightly rickety table. A small, haphazardly placed cauldron wobbled on its stand before tipping.

You cried out as the pot fell on you, splashing you with minty-green colored goo. It thankfully wasn’t very hot, but you had to get this stuff off. Unfortunately, the noise had been more than enough to alert Dr. Krankcase to your location. There was nowhere to run as he came charging back at breakneck speed.

“There you are!” Krankcase exclaimed, only to freeze when he saw you covered in goo. “Wait, what did you do?!” He ran at you, closing the distance in seconds. Your stomach dropped, ignoring how his expression had swiftly gone from malicious to panicked.

“Stay away from me!” You yelled, backing away from him. But your two legs had no hope of outrunning his five mechanical ones, and within moments the mad doctor had you in his grasp. You tried to struggle away, but he kept grabbing you and trying to clean you off with a ragged towel.

“Stop fighting! Don’t you get it??” he said. “I just cooked up that batch today! It’s a brand new, untested mix! Not even I have any idea what effects it’ll have!”

Your blood ran cold at that. If he didn’t know what that concoction was capable of, then what would happen to you? What kind of toxins were seeping into your body? Were you going to turn into some kind of horrible mutant? You stared up at Krankcase with wide eyes…was your sight failing, or was he always that tall? Actually, his hands grasped more of your body.

“W-Wait, are you getting bigger?” you asked. The doctor looked over you, nervously chewing his thumb for a moment.

“On the contrary, my dear…you appear to be getting smaller.” he said. As you processed this, you shrank down to the size of a mouse. You couldn’t remember the last time you’d felt so vulnerable. The doctor placed you on the table, needing a moment to collect himself.

You curled up on the wooden surface, covering your face. It would be one thing if you’d just been accidentally shrunken down. But you were completely at the mercy of a Doom Raider, one of the most notorious villains in Skylands. Yes, he was admittedly more polite than the others, but there were still countless things he could do to you. All you could do was hope that Camo would find you before the doctor decided to do something worse than hold you captive.

Meanwhile Dr. Krankcase was just as frazzled as you were. Not only was a Skylander likely charging through his workshop, but he was stuck with their shrunken Portal Master. Though the way he saw it, you deserved it for breaking into his workshop and threatening to wreck his whole operation, not to mention tipping over a vat of his precious goo. Perhaps he could just keep you in a jar or box for now. You’d be a good bargaining chip against the Skylanders…

That’s when a small, peculiar smell hit him. It was fresh and sweet; a sharp contrast to the caustic chemicals and reeking mixes he constantly worked with. Was that a side effect of the goo? He had to admit, it made you smell rather…appetizing. A smirk slowly crept onto his face. Slight change of plans, he thought, leaning down to take another whiff of you.

You were so busy sulking that you barely noticed Krankcase leaning in closer. He started sniffing you, blasting you with his warm breath. It felt weird, but oddly kind of nice. The warmth suddenly intensified, before something wet and slimy laved up your back. When you looked back, his pink tongue slipped up along your front, drenching you in drool.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?!” you yelled. Dr. Krankcase only chuckled, giving you another slimy lick.

“Just giving you a taste, for curiosity’s sake,” he said. “I think I know just what to do with you.” That hungry glint in his eyes, paired with that toothy smirk and a lick of his lips had dread pooling in your stomach. He was just trying to scare you, wasn’t he? But he was reaching for you now, the same way you’d grab for a snack. “Now just hold still. This won’t hurt a bit!”

You screamed and tried to run, but there was nowhere to go. He grabbed you with zero effort, lifting you to a dangerous height from your perspective. He was going to eat you! You kicked and slammed your fist against his leather glove; efforts that were barely noticed.

“No, no, you can’t do this! The Skylanders will come beat you to a pulp and save me!” you cried.

“Oh, I’m aware. I just figured this is the best place I could keep you! Not to mention a fitting way to punish a meddling Portal Master!” he exclaimed. He gave you a few more licks before dangling you above his mouth. “Now then, down the hatch!”

You screamed as he dropped you, a part of you fearing that you’d take a deadly fall to the floor. Instead you landed on his soft tongue, barely managing not to slide towards his throat. This relief was short-lived; you were already wet with saliva, and Krankcase’s tongue was already wrapping around you, making sure you were nice and coated for the trip down.

You whimpered, softly begging him not to swallow, but you knew it was pointless. These villains were all the same, after all. Those few minutes of being tasted felt like hours; being swallowed was almost welcome. But as he tilted his head back, you scrambled to get a grip on something, anything. You didn’t want to be a mad scientist’s snack!

“K-Krankcase, please have mercy just this once!” But he merely chuckled, a flick of his tongue sending you into his throat. In a last ditch effort to be spit out, you managed to grab onto his uvula. Krankcase coughed, and for a moment there was a bit of hope. The tab of flesh was slippery, though; all it took was a single, strong gulp to send you to his belly.

It was difficult to struggle, given how the gullet muscles hugged you. The soft, slick surface had no trouble pushing you deeper into his body. After what felt like an eternity of being squeezed downwards, you slid down into the fleshy pouch of his stomach. The pink walls had a light green glow, keeping you from being in complete darkness.A sigh of satisfaction came from above.

“Nice try, Portal Master, you almost had me! If it’s any consolation, you were absolutely delicious.” Krankcase patted his gut and cackled. You gritted your teeth, kicking a nearby wall. There wasn’t much impact, given how slippery the stomach lining was, but you didn’t care. You just kept kicking and struggling with all your might, hoping to make your captor sick. This earned you another laugh from above. “Woah, easy down there! That tickles!” he said.

There was a slight pressure from outside, and it took you a moment to realize that he was rubbing his belly. You really were just a snack to Krankcase, weren’t you? Just a pesky intruder reduced to a tasty morsel. To make matters worse, Camo had no idea where you were. You could be partially or even completely digested by the time the plant dragon showed up. How would he react to Krankcase gloating about your slimy fate? Completely defeated, you laid along the curve of his stomach and wept.

Dr. Krankcase gave a small burp, licking the last of your taste from his lips. He’d admittedly never given much thought to eating people-that was something a couple of his fellow Doom Raiders preferred-but it was more fun than he’d thought! He’d have to do this again sometime! Just as he was about to get back to work, Krankcase faintly heard you crying. Serves you right…but why did he feel just a little bad? He tried to ignore it, but you just kept sobbing in anticipation of a gruesome end.

“Hey…come on, don’t cry,” he said. “You’ll be fine, I promise. I know I’m a pretty bad guy, but I’m not that cruel.” You brought yourself to look up, wiping tears and slime from your face. You really didn’t want to believe him. What if he was trying to give you false hope? He did sound genuine, though. You had no choice but to settle in, feeling him pat his stomach. “There we go. Now sit tight and let the doctor do his work.” With that, he scuttled off back into the depths of the mill.

It was humiliating, really, having to sit in a villain’s gut while he got to work plotting more destruction. At least it wasn’t dark in there. Plus there was the hope that maybe he wasn’t lying about you being safe. At the moment all you could really do was get comfortable and wait. Admittedly not too hard given how cushy his gut was…even with the smell of pickles.

Ultimately Krankcase would keep his word. You were trapped in his gut for quite some time, but not a bit of you melted. The eventual fight with Camo did throw you around, but the soft lining of the doctor’s gut kept you from taking much damage. Soon, with him and his machinery damaged, Krankcase had no choice but to reluctantly cough you up.

You shivered in Camo’s hold, the dragon’s red eyes wide in shock-and some disgust from the slime you were covered in. He decided against cracking any jokes at your expense, given how shaken you were. Instead he wiped you off as best he could before swallowing you down. You settled into his leafy-feeling stomach, soothed by the familiarity. There was certain to be a spell that could return you to normal size at the academy, but this experience would stick with you…

~

A couple years had passed, and your imprisonment in the mad doctor’s belly had mostly become a distant memory. Since then, a few of the apprehended villains had been given a chance to reform and go on to train the next generation of Skylanders. Dr. Krankcase had been one of them, which admittedly made you a little nervous. Even after his rehabilitation ended, there was still a degree of awkwardness between you both.

It was well into the night by now. You probably should have been getting ready for bed, but you just sat at your desk with a book. Minutes ticked by as you did your best to fight off the slowly growing drowsiness. Suddenly, the familiar clicking of wooden spider legs made you perk up. Krankcase slowly opened the door, smiling as he let himself in.

“Ah, there you are. Guess I’m not the only one who can’t afford to sleep around here.” he said, crawling up to your side. “I hope you’ve been alright, Portal Master.” That brought a small smile to your face.

“I’m doing just fine, Doc.” you said. There was a nervousness in his stance that you couldn’t exactly place. Like he was steeling himself to deliver some bad news.

“Hey…you remember that little incident, right?” he asked. Ah yes…you could never truly forget, especially whenever he looked even a little peckish.

“Yeah, that was terrifying.” you said. He’d already apologized for it a while back, and you really didn’t hold it against him too much. It made you wonder why he was bringing it up again, so nervously too. Unless…he’d heard about how some of the Skylanders tended to swallow you to protect you, or even just for the hell of it. You looked up at him, and the anxious grin he wore said everything.

“Yeah, about that…I did have the recipe written down, and managed to concoct a growth mix to go with it. Both perfectly harmless, I assure you.” Krankcase said, rolling a vial over to you. You picked up the vial, looking at the minty green goo contained inside. It was perfectly clear what he wanted. You remembered the fear…but also how soft and warm it was inside. And it’s not like you weren’t used to being swallowed. Maybe…it wouldn’t be so bad now? The doctor’s legs fidgeted as he took a breath.

“So…you wanna try it again?”